Personal Remembrance Options

The choice of cremation brings an opportunity for families to select an urn most appropriate to their needs. Many families choose urns that uniquely reflect their loved one’s personality or interests. Mountain View offers a complete line of urns at many prices and styles that can serve as a dignified final resting place following funeral services and cremation.

If, for example, families are comforted by keeping the cremated remains close by, an urn in the home may be the preference.
If the choice is to create a physical memorial for family and friends to visit, placement of the cremated remains in a mausoleum niche or ground burial may be a consideration.

Burial of cremated remains is another more conventional option that may satisfy a family’s interest in blending tradition with the choice of cremation. As with a niche, cemetery burial provides a permanent physical memorial. Some families choose to scatter the cremated remains in a location where their loved one will rest in meaningful surroundings. Mountain View does off scattering by air, usually over the Superstitions, but other arrangements can be made.

Whatever the final resting place, Mountain View provides a wide variety of urns suitable for each family’s personal preferences. Many urns can also be personalized through engraving of names or images to create a truly one-of-a-kind memorial.

Memorial Keepsakes or memento urns offer a way for families to uniquely and personally remember their loved ones. Mountain View offers a variety of keepsakes, from sculptured bronze artwork to miniature urns to keepsake jewelry necklaces and pendants.

For cremation families, memorial keepsakes allow families with multiple family members to each have a personal and meaningful way to remember and honor their loved one. Cremated remains can often be divided among several keepsakes if siblings or other relatives desire to remember their loved one in this way.

But memorial keepsakes are not strictly for cremation families. Many families who choose ground burial often choose keepsakes to have a close, personal way to remember their family member.

Keepsake Jewelry is designed to hold a small portion of cremated remains. Keepsake jewelry is a unique and elegant way to hold a loved one close with a fashionable and lasting remembrance. Available in men’s and women’s styles, consider selecting a matching piece for family members to share a special and lasting bond.

Fingerprint Jewelry is not designed to hold a small portion of cremated remains, but is a gold or sterling silver pendants with your loved ones fingerprint engraved in it. A special message may also be engraved on the back. of the pendant. Available in men’s and women’s styles, consider selecting a piece for each family members to share a special and lasting bond.

Urn Types

Decorative Urns:

These urns have two main purposes. First, they can serve as a temporary urn when a family needs an urn for a cremation ceremony but has not decided upon a permanent urn for a loved-one’s ashes. Decorative Urns are also often used for displaying urns in a columbarium niche or an urn garden.

Wood Urns:

These are made from every type of wood on Earth, but the most common are made from cherry, maple, pine, oak, walnut, and poplar. Some of the more exotic woods used for wood urns include mahogany, paduk, yellowheart and zebrawood. Generally, urns are stained and often adorned with inlays, and laser etchings. Most are hand assembled by some of the best carpenters in the world.

Ceramic Urns:

These urns are hand crafted from porcelain or clay that is burned in a special stove. The result is a glass-like finish that is covered with a hand painted glaze. Artists can use the paint to create beautiful scenes that fit the personality for whom the urn is intended. It should be noted that ceramic urns are very fragile.

Marble Urns:

These urns start off as block s of natural limestone that are then highly polished and processed into beautiful marble products. Marble is, aside from being one of the most intriguingly gorgeous stone products on Earth, also one of the world’s most sturdy materials. Marble urns are designed to withstand the elements for generations.

Metal Urns:

The most popular metal material for urns is bronze, but metal urns can also be made from brass, copper and pewter. Metal urns are machines crafted and then polished and lacquered to become a durable, beautiful home for a loved-one’s ashes. Metal urns are often used when the ashes are to be buried, but metal urns are also commonly displayed in homes. Cloisonné Urns: These are highly detailed work of art. Handcrafted out of brass and enamel, each cloisonné urn begins with the forming of a shape and is followed by many steps until the urn is gilded and polished to a perfect, bright and shining, finish. The cloisonné process dates back many centuries. Chinese artisans used it as early as the 14th century.

Biodegradable Urns:

These environmentally friendly urns are quickly becoming among the most popular in the industry today. Biodegradable urns are most commonly used when ashes are to be scattered, especially at sea. They are hand made from non-toxic paper and meet all government requirements, and their careful construction prevents ashes from being haphazardly scattered by wind. For sea dispersions, biodegradable urns will be fully degraded within two to three days of being placed in water.

Bronze Urns:

These urns feature the long-lasting beauty of bronze sculpture. Bronze urns are suitable for burial, of course, but, because of their elaborate beauty, many customers choose to include them in some sort of outdoor memorial display. These marvelous pieces stand up well to the harshest of elements — and develop a luxurious and valuable patina as they age — and that makes the fit for just about any memorial purpose imaginable.

Companion Urns:

These very special urns allow loving couples who have spent their entire lives together to remain together for eternity. Two main types of these models are available: double or single compartment. Many couples wish to have their cremation remains mixed together, and the single compartment urns do just that. Double compartments allow the ashes to be stored separately within the same piece.

Glass Urns:

Glass blowers across the world are becoming more and more proficient at producing these colorful works of are that are suitable for memorial displays. Today’s innovative memorial industry thinkers have even begun offering a surprising twist on glass urns: some pieces can be made using tiny amounts of the deceased’s cremated remains itself. They are simply mixed into the hot glass while it is being blown and can be made to be visible in the final product.

Cloisonné Urns:

The ancient Asian art of cloisonné uses wire casing on a ceramic piece to create colorful, and realistic pictures and designs upon a sturdy, beautiful work of art. The production process used in these urns combines the best a variety of arts that have been in use for centuries.

Infant Urns:

These urns can be a great comfort to families who have suffered the loss of an infant or a child (or even those who have suffered a stillborn death). Infant urns are available in a large variety of styles and designs, and many are specifically built to bring about the carefree, playful themes of childhood, in an attempt to keep the young spirit alive for the ages.

Sport Urns:

Sports urns are specially designed to capture for the ages the spirit and personality of any person devoted to the outdoors. Many of these urns feature scenes of fishing or hunting, but they also can be shaped in the form of balls or other sports equipment. Any athlete or sports fan can have the memorial of his or her dreams with a sports urn.

Hobby Urns:

These are much like sports urns, (and in fact, in some cases, the names can be interchangeable), but they also include a few hobbies that may not be included in traditional “sports” realm. Those who are fans of needle crafts, for example, may be nicely memorialized with a beautiful metal urn shaped like a ball of yarn.

Military & Veteran Urns:

These urns pay tribute to the heroes of America’s centuries-long defense of freedom. Military & Veteran urns are available in a wide variety of styles and designs, but all are careful to reflect the great ideals upon which American soldiers base their lives.

Art Urns:

These urns are works of fine art that have been designed to include a storage place for cremation ashes. Some art urns are commissioned well in advance of a death to reflect the personality of the deceased precisely. But, even in cases in which the urn is selected from pre-made pieces, a family is sure to find an artistically amazing work that captures the loved-one’s personality perfectly.

Sculpted Urns:

The term “sculpted urn” is often used interchangeably with “art urn,” and that is perfectly acceptable. Sculpted urns are simply beautiful mini-sculptures that have been designed to accommodate cremation remains. And, since sculpture is a fine art, it is appropriate to think of these urns as being art urns as well.